"To all those people who have been waiting to see me perform at the Capital Summertime Ball today," he began, "I flew into the UK last night to appear in my home country in front of my family, friends, and most importantly my UK fans. Unfortunately my anxiety that has haunted me throughout the last few months around live performances has gotten the better of me .. with the magnitude of the event, I have suffered the worst anxiety of my career."

"I cannot apologise enough but I want to be honest with everyone who has patiently waited to see me," he continued. "I promise I will do my best to make this up to everybody I've let down today. I know those who suffer anxiety will understand and I hope those who don't can empathise with my situation."

Earlier this year, Malik also pulled out of a planned performance on The Graham Norton Show, which was due to be his first TV appearance since leaving One Direction. At the time, his camp cited "scheduling difficulties."

Singer Laura Mvula also opened up about her battles with anxiety earlier this year, telling The Observer that she had not spoken out sooner because "there's a natural fear that nobody will understand. Or they'll think you’re making it up, or you’ve become a diva. I was ashamed. Embarrassed. Also, at that point, I was so ignorant of what the industry was, I thought: ‘If they find out about that they’ll drop me.'"